World Wind Watch | Green Energy News

February 26, 2006 – Vol.10 No.49

WORLD WIND WATCH.

Clearly General Electric knew what it was doing when it scooped up the wind energy division of Enron in 2002. Even then, soon after the attacks of 9/11 and a perilous economy, GE was confident that wind energy was a growing business.

Their confidence has paid off. Since 2002 revenue from GE.'s wind division has grown 400 percent. Between 2004 and 2005 it has grown more than 200 percent. Revenue in 2005 was more than $2 billion from the shipment of 1346 turbines to global markets. Of those, 1005 were planted in U.S. soil. The revenue from wind energy was one-eighth of that from GE’s entire energy division which sells everything from solar panels to hydroelectric equipment to conventional combustion gas turbines.

2006 and beyond already are looking good for the company. GE is already taking orders for turbines to be produced in 2008 and the most recent order is for 20, 1.5 megawatt turbines for a 30-megawatt wind farm to be built in Turkey.

Including turbines sold when the company was Enron Wind, GE now has more than 8500 turbines planted in projects - on and offshore - around the globe. Visit GE wind energy at http://www.gepower.com/ .

Wind turbine blades are largely made of composites: synthetic resins fortified with glass or carbon fibers. Composites technology is a engineering science in itself. The types of fibers used are as important as weaving of fibers into fabrics, their placement in molds and the binding resins that hold fibers and fabrics together.

The composite structure of each blade design is expertly engineered to enhance the performance of the turbine. The less mass of the blade, the less wind is needed to spin it. The stronger the blade the longer it can be to catch a greater volume of moving air.

Owens-Corning, often thought of for their energy-saving insulation products, has developed a new glass fiber composite reinforcing product specifically for the wind energy industry: WindStrand (tm).

According to the company WindStrand will allow wind turbine blades to be 6 percent longer to generate up to 12 percent more power for 20 percent less cost than competing carbon-glass fiber hybrid products now used.

More power at less cost means wind energy inches closer to competing conventional energy such as coal. Visit Owens Corning at http://www.owenscorning.com/